Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Billy Joel & Stevie Nicks
Stevie Nicks‘ solo tour is being put on pause thanks to COVID-19. The Fleetwood Mac singer announced that her shows Thursday in San Francisco and Sunday in Sacramento are being postponed “due to a Covid illness within the band.”
“Stevie has loved being back on stage and is so sorry to disappoint the fans,” reads a post on social media, “but she and the band are taking all safety precautions and will be back soon.”
Stevie’s next solo tour date is scheduled for March 30 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She’s also due to reunite with BillyJoel for another co-headlining show on April 8 in Arlington, Texas. A complete list of Stevie dates can be found at stevienicksofficial.com.
Rod Stewart has tapped Culture Club to open for him on his upcoming U.K. summer tour, which will have him playing some unique venues, including football stadiums, estates and castles.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to be sharing the stage with my dear old friend, Boy George & Culture Club for this run of special summer shows,” Stewart shares. “I’m excited for them to join me on what is sure to be a memorable set of concerts at a variety of special venues.” He added, “We’ll all be dancing under the stars.”
Stewart’s U.K. tour kicks off in Plymouth, England, and wraps July 6 in Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the only show Culture Club is not opening. He’s also scheduled to return to North America this year, with his Las Vegas residency returning to The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on May 3, followed by a summer tour that kicks off July 29 in Sparks, Nevada. A complete list of tour dates can be found at rodstewart.com.
You may not have guessed that someone nicknamed the Prince of Darkness would be afraid of anything, but Ozzy Osbourne apparently had one specific fear that reared its head during the cover shoot for his 1983 solo album, Bark at the Moon.
Bark at the Moon photographer Fin Costello tells Classic Rock magazine that Ozzy was “terrified of dogs,” which was particularly tricky due to the werewolf-themed shoot.
“In one of the shots, Ozzy was playing a wolf, on his hands and knees with these rottweilers behind him,” Costello shares. “But what I didn’t realize was that Ozzy was terrified of dogs. Now, when he could see the dogs he could deal with it, but when they were behind him it was completely different!”
At one point at five in the morning, Costello remembers Ozzy “got up and said he couldn’t do it any more.”
“We ended up having this bizarre, early-hours conversation with him dressed like a werewolf, his wife Sharon, who’d just given birth about two days before, a nanny holding the baby in a Moses basket, and with a tea lady wandering around the set giving out drinks,” Costello says. “We eventually finished, but it was all very surreal!”
Ozzy seems to have gotten over his fear of dogs — or, at least, is now OK with smaller ones — as evidenced by his beloved PomeranianRocky.
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Chicago is sharing their take on a Beatles classic. The band just released their cover of “Magical Mystery Tour,” which has been part of their 2023 touring set list.
The idea to cover the song came from founding member Lee Loughnane after hearing the tune in a store. After laying down the tracks with engineer Tim Jessup, he sent it to the other members of the band, who added their contributions to the tune.
Chicago is set to spend quite a bit of 2023 on the road. Their next show is scheduled for April 7 in Windsor, Ontario, and they’ll return to the States April 11 with a show in Reading, Pennsylvania. The band has also just announced a one-night-only benefit concert on April 23 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, New York, with proceeds going to Musicians on Call. A complete list of tour dates can be found at chicagotheband.com.
Metallica‘s Kirk Hammett has obtained a new, legendary guitar dubbed the “rarest of grails.”
The instrument is a factory black 1959 Les Paul Standard and was purchased from the company Carter Vintage Guitars. In an Instagram post showing off his latest axe, Hammett writes, “This is one unique, amazing sounding guitar.”
The guitar originally belonged to a jazz musician named Joseph Arena, who, as Carter Vintage explains, “wanted a black guitar to match his tuxedo.”
“But a Les Paul Custom was out of his price range so he opted to custom order for the [less] expensive Standard but with a black finish,” the story continues. “The guitar was ordered through Sam Ash in Hempstead, New York, and has stayed in the original family until now.”
The guitar is so special that Hammett says his famed Greeny guitar, a ’59 Les Paul once owned by late Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green, is “a little jealous.”
Not only has Bruce Springsteen been a major influence on the music of countless artists, he’s also apparently a dietary inspiration for one musician in particular.
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin reveals in a recent episode of the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friendpodcast that he doesn’t eat dinner anymore because of a conversation he had with The Boss and his wife, E Street Band member Patti Scialfa.
During the podcast, O’Brien asked Martin what he’s learned from having dinner with his musical heroes. Martin replies, “What if I don’t actually have dinner anymore?”
“I stop eating at 4,” Martin shares. “I learned that from having lunch with Bruce Springsteen.”
Said lunch took place at the Springsteen residence after Coldplay played Philadelphia last year.
“I was on a really strict diet, anyway,” Martin recalls. “I was, like, ‘Bruce looks even more in shape than me!’ And Patti says, ‘He’s only eating one meal a day.’ So I was, like, ‘Well, there you go. That’s my next challenge.”
That means Martin will already be done eating by the time Coldplay takes the stage during their ongoing world tour, which hits the U.S. in September. Unless, of course, Jamie Lee Curtisgets her way and Coldplay starts playing shows at noon.
The full lineup for Milwaukee’s annual Summerfest has just been announced, with over 100 acts booked for the festival, now in its 55th year. This year’s fest will take place over three weekends, June 22 to 24, June 29 to July 1 and July 6 to 8, with bands playing across 12 stages.
James Taylor and Sheryl Crow are set to headline a June 24 show at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater, while Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Styx, Cheap Trick, 38 Special, Night Ranger, Survivor, Soul Asylum and more are confirmed for the festival stages.
Tickets for Summerfest are on sale now. A complete lineup and concert schedule can be found at summerfest.com.
Rocker Billy Joel married supermodel Christie Brinkley on a yacht in New York’s Hudson River. The two stars met in 1983 in St. Barts, and Brinkley later appeared in Joel’s video for “Uptown Girl” before they eventually wed.
They welcomed their first and only child together, Alexa Ray, that December.
It was the second marriage for both Joel and Brinkley but it didn’t last. They divorced in August 1994, and both went on to marry two more times.
Joel has been married to current wife Alexis Roderick since 2015 and they have two daughters together, Della Rose and Remy Anne.
John Fogerty is a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, with plenty of huge hits behind him, but even he questions his abilities sometimes — at least when it comes to playing guitar.
“I didn’t feel that I was a virtuoso on guitar,” Fogerty tells Guitar World of his Creedence Clearwater Revival days. “I did feel I knew how to get a sound out of my instrument, which was pretty important.”
He adds, “I think musicians, especially guitar players, tend to be a humble bunch because it’s sort of the Wild West. There’s always some guy louder and faster and going to call you out in the street. And it’s just a matter of a flip of a coin if you get bushwhacked.”
But even though he believes “there were a lot of people running around that were better than me,” Fogerty was OK with that: “I felt very comfortable within my own band.”
The rocker says the important thing was that he and his CCR bandmates “were good together.”
“I didn’t think any of us was, let’s say, the best in the world, or even in our own country or our own state, at what we were doing,” Fogerty says. “To me, that didn’t matter. I thought it was much more important to sound good together.”
March 23 marks the 40th anniversary of the release of ZZ Top’s eighth studio album, Eliminator, which went on to be the band’s most commercially successful album, peaking at nine on the Billboard Album chart.
The album, which used more synthesizers and drum machines than previous ZZ Top records, featured four hit singles: “Legs,” “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” “Sharped Dressed Man” and “TV Dinners.” “Gimme All Your Lovin’” peaked at two on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, with “Legs” and “Sharp Dressed Man” also making the top 10. “Gimme All Your Lovin’” also landed on the Billboard Top 40 chart.
The success of the album and the songs were helped by a series of hugely popular videos for “Legs,” “Gimme All Your Lovin’” and “Sharped Dressed Man.” They wound up in regular rotation on MTV, helping to attract a younger fan base.
All three featured a trio of models, along with a red 1933 Ford coupe, like the one that appeared on the cover of the album, with the video for “Legs” marking the debut of the band’s spinning guitars, covered in white sheepskin. “Legs” went on to earn ZZ Top an MTV Video Music Award for Best Group.
Eliminator was the first of the band’s albums to become a worldwide success and went on to sell over 11 million copies in the U.S. It has been certified Diamond by the RIAA.
And while ZZ Top lost member Dusty Hill in July 2021, they haven’t slowed down. They hit the road next month on a solo tour and will co-headline a tour this summer with Lynyrd Skynyrd, dubbed The Sharp Dressed Simple Man Tour. A complete list of tour dates can be found at zztop.com.
